


084s have feelings too

by lesbianfucker



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Abandonment, Adoption, Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Alternate Universe, Angst, BAMF Skye | Daisy Johnson, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, I didn't mean to write so much angst, Knives, OOC Phil, Old Peggy Carter, Phil Coulson is Skye's Father, Philinda as Parents, So Much Vodka, Vodka, mentions of self harm, unrequited Grant Ward/Skye
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-07-28
Updated: 2016-02-13
Packaged: 2018-04-11 17:59:52
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 21,108
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4446233
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lesbianfucker/pseuds/lesbianfucker
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Skye Coulson was adopted by Phil and May as an infant, but after Bahrain, May is emotionally destroyed and leaves. Phil is shattered and throws himself into his work, leaving young Skye on her own. Years later, Skye discovers her dad's not quite as dead as she thought</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The sad little life of an 084

Skye supposed, nothing in her life was really normal. She reflected on her life as she sat in the back of a shield van with a bag over her head.

Her parents- no, she refused to call them that.

She was adopted by Phil Coulson and Melinda May after they had cared for her after a year undercover with her. Her 0-8-4 status meant she was a liability. Phil and May went undercover to gather intel. The 0-8-4 was there as both a cover and to see what type of power she possessed, if any. Over the year, Phil and May bonded over caring for Skye, as they named her, and as these things happened, fell in love.

Fury was pissed, of course, when he found out May and Phil decided to keep the baby. It was in no way practical, but when Skye batted her big brown eyes at him and giggled, he couldn't deny her.

Phil and May got married, Skye's life looked like it would be okay.

She was trained by both her parents in tactical, defence and survival while still going to school. She was cared for by her Uncle Nick if both her parents where away on a mission  
Everything was great up until Skye turned 12.

Then Bahrain happened. Melinda couldn't look at her Skye, her baby, without seeing the little girl who wanted her pain. Phil tried, he really did. but she couldn't take it. so she left, applied for divorce and didn't talk to her daughter or husband. Every year, May still sent Skye a birthday present. It was the least she could do for her baby, even if she was too damaged to care for Skye herself.

Phil was heartbroken. He forgot about his daughter and threw himself into his work, leaving Skye home alone for weeks at a time while he went on missions.

That was Skye's life for two years, go home, do her homework, check if there's any messages from dad, cry when she saw there wasn't, eat some dinner then look at old photos of the three of them together and cry herself to sleep while clutching her Moms' old jumper and the Captain America teddy her Dad got her years ago.

She didn't understand. Why didn't her parents love her anymore? Could she have been a better daughter? Gotten better grades? 

For two years, Skye wallowed in her misery with her Dad making an appearance every six months or so. They didn't speak when he came. He would unload masses of gifts as a sort of apology, but he never did say he was sorry, and after a week, he was gone again.

It wasn't until Skye turned fourteen that things started to change. Instead of hating herself, she hated her parents for leaving her. She burned the presents May sent and destroyed the gifts Phil brought with him in front of him. All but one gift survived. A laptop.

It was when she turned fifteen that she met Miles Lydon. He told her about freedom of information, taught her how to hack, and introduced her to the Rising Tide.

She was furious when she found out that her parents were S.H.I.E.L.D. Of all the years she had with them, they never told her what they did. She just assumed that what her parents did was normal. She grew up with it, why would she ever question it?

She was able to hack into her mothers account to see what had happened in Bahrain. When that proved fruitless, she checked on Phil's  
.  
Discovering that he wasn't abroad most of the time, but had bought an apartment closer to work filled her with rage. He wasn't away saving the world, he was just away because he didn't want to see her.

Skye changed the locks on the house so if ever Phil did attempt to visit he couldn't enter. 

He only tried once.

He came around the same date evey six months. On January 6th and August 8th. After Christmas and after her birthday.

So, on January 6th, Skye looked through the peep hole to see Phil attempt to unlock the door. When it wouldnt work and he tried all his other keys, he look into the peephole as if directly seeing Skye, sighed and left. Not before leaving something in the letter box.

When she was sure he was gone, she went out to retrieve whatever he had left in the mailbox.

It was the keys to Lola. He never let Skye drive her. The keys were an apology and goodbye in one and for the first time in nearly two years, Skye cried over her parents who were as good as dead.

She would have no idea how true that would become.

Phil didn't visit again, but still sent gifts that she would immediatly send back.

She was seventeen, still living in her childhood home. She didn't know what anchored her there. She stayed in school, barely. She joined the Rising tide officially and did whatever she could to help.

Then Uncle Nick came over for the first time in six years. He told her Phil had died in the line of duty. A red headed woman and a blonde man accompanied him.

She didn't say anything, just nodded, gave Nick the keys to Lola and continued the hack she was doing on her laptop before she was interrupted.

The trio looked at her in shock. Why wouldnt they? They had no way to know that her father may as well have been dead for years and this changed nothing. After a few hours they left, unnerved over Skyes acceptance. The only time she spoke was to order pizza.

Once they left, she put her plan into action. Draining the account that Phil had set up for her to support herself while he "worked" and draining her Mothers as well for good measure. She deleted herself from the system, no birth certificate, social security number, everything, even off the S.H.I.E.L.D. data base. Taking her laptop, clothes and any valuables she could sell she left. She didnt give a second glance to the captain america taddy on her dresser that had been gathering dust.

She bought her van, and hacked S.H.I.E.L.D. for all that it was worth.

She was as happy as she could be. but there was still a deep emptiness in her that had existed since she was twelve. She was nineteen now and it was still there.

Then things really went to shit when S.H.I.E.L.D. finally caight her. She was black bagged and shoved into a car. So, here she was. She wondered if she'd see her Uncle Nick again.

She slightly missed him. not enough to feel sad, he abandoned her just as much as her parents, but still, it would be nice to see him.

After a long car journey, she was led up some stairs and sat down.

After the bag was removed and her vision cleared, she looked up and laughed.

Laughed manically, hystericaly, like the world was about to end.

Sitting across from her was her "dead" father, Phil Coulson.

"You have got to be kidding me" she choked out between laughing.

Phil just stared at her, slack jawed and pale faced.


	2. Phil's POV

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everything from Coulson's side

Phil Coulson's life used to be relatively simple. Well as simple as can be when one works for a top secret goverment facility.

That all changed when he was given the mission to go undercover with The Cavalry and an 0-8-4 that just happened to be a baby.

For just over a year, he cared for the small girl. They had named her Skye. Before he could stop himself, he was thinking of Skye as his baby girl. 

If that wasn't bad enough, he was slowly falling for May too.

He never thought of himself as a family man, or someones husband or father, but he couldn't imagine not being with Skye and May now. He was given a second chance and he'd be damned if he was going to waist it.

Fury was pissed when he saw Phil's and Melinda's name as parents on Skye's birth certificate. 

"You do realize that this kid could blow us all up if she has a temper tantrum? There are two many variables with her and I'll be damned if I lose two of my best agents to her." Fury told them.

"Exactly, sir" Coulson replied "We can keep on eye on her so she dosen't potentially hurt herself or anyone else."

As much as Fury didn't like the situation, he couldn't deny how besotted the agents had become with the child. Forcing them apart would do more harm than good at this stage.  
They bought a house in the Suburbs to raise Skye in, hoping for a reletively normal childhood for their baby.

Phil was highly against any sort of training for Skye, wanting to give her a chance of a life outside of S.H.I.E.L.D.  
Melinda pointed out, that with them as her parents and her 0-8-4 status, her chances of normality were highly limited, and she needed to defend herself if anything were to happen to them or her.

So Skye was trained while she attended school. Fury looked after Skye if Melinda and himself were away on missions. It was perfect.

He was a husband and a father while doing something he loved and saving people's lives.

Skye turned twelve. And things went to shit  
.  
It was supposed to be a simple mission. They were just trying to recruit a gifted individual. It shouldn't have gone as bad as it did. Mayshouldn't have had to make the call.  
But the call had to be made, and she made it.

Now she couldn't see her little Skye anymore, she saw the girl who wanted her pain. She saw the bullet wound, the dead body on the floor and nothing else.

As much as Phil tried, he couldn't stop the love of his life from dying inside. He couldn't stop her from leaving or filing for divorce. The thing he couldn't stop, and that he hated the most, was that he couldn't look at Skye without seeing the reason his love left.

Even though they weren't related by blood, the similarities between Skye and Melinda were immense. From their eyes, to the way they walked and talked. It was like seeing a miniture version of Melinda walk around the house.

After Melinda left, Skye smiled less, she was more serious, wondering why her mother had stopped loving her and why her father couldn't look at her without wincing.

Her sour mood made her even more like the current Melinda; the emotionally dead version.

It became far too much for Phil. As much as he hated himself for it, he spent less and less time at home, opting for long time missions, or sleeping in one of the S.H.I.E.L.D. facilities.

It started out as calling Skye every night he spent away, but he couldn't stand how sad her voice sounded. Opting for the cowards way out, he called less and less.

Deep down he knew, it would be better of he just stayed home more, but the house was so empty without Melinda and Skye only amplified it.

If Fury noticed, he didn't comment. It appeared that he, too, was keeping his distance from Skye. His reasons were unknown to him and he didn't ask.

Over the years, his visits home became less and less frequent. When he was home, he noticed his bed was slept in, with one of May's jumpers and Skyes' Captain America teddy on the bed. The pillows were always damp.

He hated himself, he truly did. He abandoned his daughter when she really needed him, and all he was doing was thinking of himself.

He continued to be selfish, by visiting less and less. He ignored his guilt by ignoring his daughter.

Up until Skye was fourteen, she would cling to him whenever he came home, never leaving his side until he left again.

That changed when she was fifteen. She had started to resent him, and they didn't speak when he came home. She openly burned whatever gifts he brought home with him, making sure he saw. Then spit on the ashes.

Melinda's jumper was in his room, the pillows no longer damp and the whole room was gathering dust.

Skye spent most of her time out of the house when Phil visited. It gave him a chance to see her room, report cards and generally punishing himself for missing out on his daughters life.

There were a few photos up of her and friends. None of her smiles reached her eyes. She was failing most of her classes and barely attended. None of that, however, was as bad as seeing the Captain America teddy, that Skye once cherished more than anything, was on the top shelf, in the corner, filthy with dust.

His daughter had given up on him. He couldn't blame her. He gave her no reason to have faith in him.

He always left Lola at the house though. He didn't realise that it was just a horrible reminder to Skye of absent father. He meant it to mean that he still cared for her. He always brought the keys with him. It was supposed to show that he would always come back

The next few times he would visit, he would always find the place a mess, empty beer cans all over the place. The place looked like it was party central 24/7.

He had no right to reprimand her. He probably destroyed all good memories of the place for her. She was just doing the same to him.

He started being the handler for Agent Barton and Romanoff. He liked that. They thought of him as a father, someone they could depend on. He wasn't going to screw it up this time. It gave him renewed hope, that maybe, just maybe, he could repair his relationship with Skye.

All that hope vanished when he found that she changed the locks on the door.

That was it. She was done with him, and he couldn't change that.

He left the keys for Lola in the mailbow. It was his apolagy for being such a shitty father. To Skye, it was his goodbye.

He stopped visiting. Nat and Clint knew something was up, but didn't push it when he wouldn't talk.

Then he was stabbed by a motherfucking God in the heart. His final thoughts were how Skye was only seventeen and he couldn't leave her. Until he remembered he left her a long time ago. 

"Please" he muttered to Fury, with his dying breath, "tell her I'm sorry, take care of her."

And with those final words he died.

Fury took the words to heart, filled with his own guilt and regret for not looking out for Skye. She was family to him, but he too abandoned her.

Fury was completely unnerved when he saw Skye's reaction to Phils' death. The house was disgusting with beer and vodka cans all around the place.

Skye was indifferent to it all, ignoring everyone. Cint and Natasha had insisted on coming. Phil a father to them. Any child of his was a sibling to them and they would help her get through this, and welcome her as one of their own.

How were they to know she was over it before it happened?

They had decided to go back everyday, to clean up the house, help Skye and overall just do what Coulson would have wanted. Next day, she was gone. Since all her valuables were gone, and the door was locked from the outside, they determined she ran and it wasn't a kidnapping.

No one was more shocked than Fury to discover she had deleted herself, permanently, from S.H.I.E.L.D. system, along with her dental records, social security number and any other identifying systems Skye was on.

The girl's only seventeen, Fury thought, this wasn't the girl he knew.

No, the girl he knew was loved by both her parents. He didn't know the girl she was now.

 

Six months later, Coulson was awake.

His first thought; Skye.

He had to repair their relationship. Dying had put things into perspective. Even if it took the rest of his life to make it up to Skye, he would do it. She was his baby, and dammit he was gonna be a father while he still could.

Before anyone could tell him Skye was gone, and had been for half a year, he was gone.

Going directly to his house, he found it abandoned. A thick layer of dust over everything.

He reached Skye's room, saw the Captain America teddy, covered in dust. He sat on his daughters bed, with her once cherished toy that had always comforted her, as it reminded her of her father, and cried.

He cried because she was gone, because she had truly given up on him, hell she even left Lola there, cried because the love of his life left him to raise their daughter and he didn't know how to cope so he ran.

That's how Fury found him. Holding a teddy bear and red eyed.

"When we told her" Fury told him, "she didn't react at all. Just nodded and accepted it, like it was just ordinary news"

"I may as well have been dead to her" Coulson told him. And them went on to tell him of just how horrible of a person he was and how badly he needed to repair his and Skyes' relationship.

Coulson had never seen Fury as angry as he did right then. 

"You, Phil Coulson, are a horrible person"

"I know."

"I understand why you did what you did, but it in no way excuses what you did. I will help you because, dammit, Skye needs help."

Fury then went on to tell Phil how she had disappeared, taken all his and Melinda's money, deleted herself from S.H.I.E.L.D.S. system and any other data base she was on.

"We've had an on going search for her ever since she left, but we've got nothing. She's good" He told Phil.

It took a year to get Phil out of his depression. He had ruined everything and there was no way to fix it.

Fury tasked him with putting together a team, to help him grieve for losing his child.

The reunion with May did not go well.

He went down to administrations and invited her to coffee.

They sat there for a while, not saying anything or looking at each other.

"I'm putting together a team" he started. "Non-combat"

She gave him a look before saying "Then you don't need me. Besides I'm not a field agent anymore"

"I know" he replied "which is why you'll just be driving the BUS"

She gave him a long hard look, then muttered a begrudging "fine"

He smiled then, some of the tension leaving his shoulders, before May asked the dredded question.

"How's Skye?" she asked, her usual confident voice reduced to a meak whisper.

"I don't know" he relpied honestly before explaining for the second time how he completely failed his child.

May was livid. There were many unpleasant words exchanged before Phil finally ended it.

"For fuck sake Melinda, you left us! Skye thought you didn't love her and I couldn't see her without seeing you. We needed you and you left. I couldn't cope, so I left. Neither of us are guilt free"

May had nothing to say to that, knowing there was a great deal of truth in the statement.

 

The first few days on the BUS were not easy. May and Phil were both slowly learning to trust each other again. They bonded over losing their little girl and shared the grief.

It wasn't long until May finally told him what happened in Bahrain. Phil held her as she sobbed against him. He finally understood why she left.

Things were getting better, there was still no sign of Skye anywhere, but they had each other now, which was more than they'd had in years.

It was a normal enough day on the BUS. FitzSimmons were babbling about some new science thingy while Ward listened witha stoic expression.

They were given the order to pick up a hacker, who had done multiple hacks against S.H.I.E.L.D. They sent Ward to pick whoever it was up.

There sat Phil, Ward about to rip the bag off and May watching from the security feeds.

Phil nodded and Ward took the bag off.

The girls head was dipped, long dark hair covering her face.

After a moment she looked up.

Skye. It was her.

His jaw dropped and the colour left his face.

She was laughing like it was the funniest thing in the world. She was almost hysterical.

"You have got to be kidding me" she choked out between laughs.

Phil just stared

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> bit longer than the last chapter, tell me what you think, and what you want to see


	3. Unexpected and Unwanted Reunion

Phil continued to stare as Skye laughed. She was full on cackling at this stage. The guy who brought her in was just staring at the two of them in confusion.

Just then, May burst through the door, a look of absolute disbelief on her face.

"Oh, you too? This just keeps getting better and better dosen't it?" Skye still couldn't stop looking, add in Mays' sudden arrival and the laughter just got stronger.

Ward stared at them all in disbelief.

Phil wasn't suprised. You needed high level clearance to find out about his adoptive daughter along with him and May being married.  
Even though May filed for divorce, he never signed the papers, always holding out hope.

"This" Skye started, addressing Ward "is an unwanted reunion that i thought I'd never have to deal with." She was still laughing, but had calmed down considerably.

May had finally moved from the door and was quickly making her way to Skye. She was finally going to get to hold her baby. 

Skye didn't notice the look of joy and love on Mays face, or that she was getting closer and closer. She did notice as soon as May touched her though. Using a technique that May herself taught her, she jumped off her chair and had May pinned down on the table, Skye's boot on her back, and a firm grip on her arm, ready to twist and break, should May give her trouble.

"Don't" Skye hissed, venom in her voice and a hate that neither parent had ever heard before "touch me. You don't get to. You don't have the right." She spit out her words.  
Poor Ward. He had no idea of the backstory with these three. All he saw was some stupid hacker threaten a superior officer. So, he did what he was trained to do. He took out his gun and threatened to shoot if she didn't release May.

Ward was quickly learning many things during his short stay on the bus.

1\. Don't mess with FitzSimmons stuff. It will blow up if you're not careful and you'll die.

2\. May has the most terrifying, nightmare inducing facial expressions when she dosen't like what you're doing.

3\. May is the best fighter, and you will never beat her.

4\. Coulson is not to be messed with when angry.

5\. Do not get in the middle of a May and Coulson fight.

How was he to know he just crossed four out of five of the rules he had created in order to survive?

He found himself peeing a little at the look he got from the hacker. He was a top agent, who the hell was this girl to make him feel threatened?  
Before he could really analyze what was happening, Coulson dismissed him in a voice that left no room for arguments.

Skye released May and sat down, all laughter and humour gone.

It was like a knife in May's gut, seeing her once innocent, happy and carefree child look at her with so much anger and hatred. Her eyes weren't those of a nineteen year old just starting her life. No, they were eyes of a seasoned veteran who'd seen too much too quickly and couldn't even begin to cope with it.

Phil had told her that by the time Skye was fifteen, she was done with them. It made sense. It was around that time that Skye started sending the presents back. It was like that for two years, until the presents stopped coming back. She thought it was good, Skye didn't completely hate her, but no. It wasn't that. Skye just wasn't there to send them back any more.

There they sat. Skye, not looking at either of them. Phil's head going a million miles an hour. What could he say? What could he do? He was given a chance to get his baby back and she wouldn't even look at him. 

Not knowing what else, he reached in to his jacket and took out the keys to Lola. Fury had given them back to him, figuring he'd want them.

"She's still yours" he said, his voice barely above a whisper. He hadn't spoken to her in five years, not from lack of trying.

That seemed to open the flood gates for Skye. She finally looked at him. Her usual soft brown eyes, cold and hard.

"I don't want your fucking car" she hissed out "I don't want anything to do with anything to do with either of you. I've made that very clear. You lied to me for years."

Now they were confused. They admitted they abandoned her, but they never lied to her.

Seeing the look of confusion on their faces, Skye continued "Every gift you sent, pretending to still care; lie, everytime you came home and acted like you would stay; lie. Every time you called me your daughter; LIE." 

They had never told Skye about her adoption, fearing that it would make her feel unloved and unwanted. The irony was not lost on them. Because she didn't know of her adoption, she didn't know about he 084 status either. it would destroy her to know all those people died for her.

May and Coulson stared at her in shock. How the hell did she find out?

Before they could wonder for too long, Skye spoke again.

"Here's what's gonna happen" Skye started, "We will not speak, you will not ask me any questions about what I've been doing these past years and I wont kill you while you sleep."  
May nodded, knowing that she could and probably would.

"You're going to bring me to Uncle Nick. I miss him, haven't seen him in a few years, then, you're dropping me off to China. I'm finding my real parents"

"Skye" Phil pleaded, desperation lacing his voice, "We're your pare-"

He was quickly cut off by Skye. It was the wrong thing to say. He knew it as soon as he started to say it.

"Don't" she hissed, her face a mask of hatred and disgust "you are nothing to me now. This is what you're gonna do, because you fucking owe me."

 

Unknown to the trio, Ward and FitzSimmons watched the whole exchange fromt the security feed.

"Well then" Fitz started, "That's not something you hear everyday" Simmons finished.

Neither of them had ever seen anyone get the better of May, or seen her not retaliate. This was definately something new.

They continued to listen, none of them had ever seen their superior officers looking so vulnerable. Then Skye said the keyword-daughter- and it all clicked into place. The look of fury and rage on her face was unsettling and put them all on edge. 

They didn't speak again until Skye finished her rant.

"You don't think she meant Director Fury do you?" Simmons asked.

"No bloody clue" Fitz replied

Ward was silent, his own thoughts going a mile a minute. Here was the daughter of The Cavalry and Agent Coulson. And she hated them. Plus she just called the director 'Uncle'. Easily susceptible and probably wants revenge on S.H.I.E.L.D.

"HYDRA was gonig to have a fit when they found out about this one" Ward thought.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes Ward is still Hydra. I'm not sorry. I hate Grant Ward with a passion. DEATH TO WARD


	4. Furylicous

Ward and FitzSimmons were still staring at the security feeds, looking for May's and Coulson's reactions. Ward saw them look at each other than nod to Skye. FitzSimmons quickly shut off the video feed when they saw the trio leaving.

"Okay....just act natural?" Simmons said, unsure of what to do. None of them had ever been in a situation like this before.

Coulson and May finally emerged, with a very angry, and very young girl with them. May's face was completely blank, not a single expression crossed her face. Ward did notice though, her eyes were blanker than usual.

Without a word, May made her way to the cockpit. Coulson gestured for Ward to follow, as he and the angry girl made their way downstairs to the cars.

When they arrived, Coulson looked at the girl, hope clearly in his eyes.

"We could take Lola.." the 'if you want' was left unsaid but clearly meant.

Ward thought May's looks were bad, but it was absolutely nothing compared to the girls. He felt extreme pity for Coulson, Ward would rather die, than be on the receiving end of that glare.

Never saying a word, Skye jumped into the back seat of the van. Coulson got into the passenger side, leaving Ward to drive.

"So where exactly are we going?" Ward asked to no one in particular. Coulson looked at Skye who was too busy on her phone to notice. Before Coulson could ask, the GPS on the dash lit up, with a new set of co-ordinates to follow. "Well that answers that" Ward muttered.

The drive wasn't more than thirty minutes or so, but continued in silence. Skye pulled out a pair of earphones from somewhere to avoid any sort of communication with anyone.

When they arrived at their destination, all three of them got out. Skye started to walk down an alley. Coulson took Ward aside and told him quietly "Make sure she gets back safe."

Although he hadn't been told directly, he realised he was tasked with getting Skye safely back to the BUS. Shit. If anything happened, he'd be a dead man.

Skye walked them down an alley until they got to a clunky, old, blue van. Skye had relaxed considerably thanks to no longer being around Coulson and being near her baby now.

She stopped in front of the car and turned around to Ward. "We haven't been properly introduced. I'm Skye" she said holding out her hand.

"Ward" he replied with, shaking her hand. 

He hadn't really gotten a good look at her before but he was able to really see her now. She had on a simple pair of ankle boots with skinny jeans, a leather jacket and a plain purple top. No jewellery and as far as he could tell, no make up. The whole outfit was simple but she looked good in it. Something about the way she held herself

They got into the van with Skye in the drivers seat. Ward quickly looked around the back. There was a bed in the back along with a small sink unit. Next to that was a mini fridge and a small table holding a camping cooker. Closest to the driving compartment, was a desk holding up two laptops, three different desktops and two keyboards.

"Quite the set up you've got back there" Ward said. Skye looked back with a fond smile on her face. "Yeah" she said "took a while to get everything in place and nail it down so it dosn't go flying while i drive. Oh, that reminds me" She said, climbing into the back of the van to mess with some wires and what looked like an ipod of some sort. Ward took the opportunity to plant a tiny bug in the lining of the seat. 

At that exact moment, one of Skye's computers lit up. Skye looked up immediately and went to see what it was. Poor Ward. He had no idea who he was dealing with. She was raised by spies, and as much as she hated it, they had installed their caution in her. Which is why she had constant scans going on to pick up any sort of bug, virus or hack trying to enter the safe zone that was her van.

Skye schooled her features back into the innocent and cheerful face she had on only moments ago. Again, she was trained by freaking spies, she could control far more than her face. 

She plugged in her music and turned it up loud, effectively cutting off any type of conversation.

When they got back, Lola was nowhere in sight, leaving room for Skye's van. She looked up after parking, to find two people right outside, practically buzzing with energy.

She got out of the car, being greeted by the duo.

"Hello there" the guy started "He's Fitz" the girl continued "She's Simmons" "Most people just call us FitzSimmons" "She's bio chem" "He's engineering" Simmons finally finished.  
Skye looked at them, amusement clear on her face. "You are aware that-"  
"We finish each others sentences, yes bad habbit, sorry" Simmons finished for her.  
"Skye" she said, introducing herself.

 

On the drive back to the BUS Phil realized he'd have to call Fury. Skye wanted to speak to him and he was family. He deserved to know Skye had been found. Arriving at the BUS, he parked the SUV, then moved Lola out of the way so Skye's van could fit.

Walking up the stairs, he got May's attention and motioned for her to follow, going up the stairs to his office with May right behind him.

Picking up his phone, he typed in a complicated code, before it started ringing and he put it on loud speaker.

"What the hell do you want Coulson?" Fury's asked through the phone. Coulson wasn't surprised by the gruff attitude, it was just who Fury was.

"We found her, sir" was all Coulson said.

Fury was silent for a very long time, none of them breaking the silence.

That was until Fury, his voice just above a whisper, said "you sure it's her? You haven't seen her in four years, it could be an imposter.

"It's her, sir. She had quite a lot to say to us. She even pinned May to the table when she tried to hug her" Coulson said, a smile on his lips.

Fury out right laughed at that. That sounded like the girl he knew. "How is she?" he asked.

"Pissed" Coulson started "and rightfully so. But other than that, healthy, seems to be eating. One thing worried me though, she knew about her adoption, being an 084 and what happened in China."

"Well shit. She's better at hacking then I thought" Fury sounded worried, but there was pride in her voice. "Anything else?" 

"Well that's the thing. She's demanded that we take her to you, says she misses you and then we're to drop her off to China, in search of her birth parents" Coulson finished, all happiness gone from his voice. 

"FUCK" Fury yelled from the phone, making Coulson and May jump. Why had he reacted so violently?

"Okay, bring her to the HUB, but there is no way in hell she's going to find her birth parents, I don't care what we have to do but that is NOT happening. I'll explain it all when I see you again. Is Skye on the plane now? Put me on to her." Fury told them in his director voice that left no room for argument.

May and Coulson walked down to the garage where Skye would most likely be. They had to stop for a moment though when they saw Skye talking with FitzSimmins, a smile on her face. It was something neither of them had seen in years.

The smile was quickly replaced with a murderous glare when she saw May and Coulson walking towards her. 

Everyone was quiet and tense while they waited to see how Skye would react. All Coulson did was hand her the phone. SKye reluctantly took it, distrust clear in her eyes.

Slowly, she lifted it to her ear and muttered a quiet "hello." All glares left her face when she heard who was on the other side.

She wasn't nearly as angry with Fury as she was with her parents. He was the head of a spy agency for christ sake, besides he still called at least every month. And if she was honest, they were the best part of her month. He was the only family who still seemed to care. If he wasn't busy, it was every week and if she was really lucky, every day.

A wide grin escaped her face, much to her annoyance. She quickly opened the side entrance to her van to get some privacy, but not before she could be heard saying "Oh my Furylicous, it's good to hear from you."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's gonna be a lot of Fury/Skye love but it's strictly family stuff. No weird age gap shipping


	5. Beware the Wrath of Six Year Olds

May and Coulson walked back upstairs leaving Ward and FitzSimmons next to Skye's van.

"Did she just call the Director Furyliceous?" Fitz asked in an equally horrified and awed tone. Ward didn't blame him. He was just happy he'd get to hear what they actually said to each other.

 

Meanwhile Skye sat on her bed talking to Fury in a mixture of Ancient Greek and Latin. She had learnt both languages, courtesy of Fury and they used it as their secret language while she grew up. She spoke both languages fleuntly, without having to give a second thought, so combining the two was the next logical step to make sure no one could understand them.

<How ya doing Pirate man?> Skye asked.

<Much better now that I know you're alive>Fury replied, placing extra emphasis on the alive part.

<Hey, I would have called, but I was kinda on the run. Did you know butterflies taste with their feet?>

Even though no one ever told her what her family did, they had created multiple codes in case of any emergency service. Skye just figured that every family did it and never questioned it. The one Skye just said was made in case unwanted ears were listening in.

She highly doubted that Ward would be able to translate both languages, especially mixed up as they were, but caution never hurt.

<Is that so...what do they taste?>Fury asked, it was another code. She'd have to spell out Ward's name with the first letter of several other words.

<Wheat, Apples, Rice, Deer> She told him.<Personally I can't stand that combination> Skye told Fury, still talking about Ward.

Fury laughed before asking <Are there any butterflies in your van?>  referencing the bug. he asked.

Skye went to her computer, opening the application that allowed her to find exactly where the bug was.

<It's right in front of me> she told him.

Skye picked up the bug that was hidden in one of the rips in the chair fabric. Before she crushed it, she hacked into Ward's laptop, deleting any previously saved versions of the conversation. If the bug were to remain intact, he could listen to it for ever if he wanted. By crushing it and deleting the file, he could never hear it again. Putting the bug on the ground, she crushed it with her boot.

<Okay, we can talk freely now> Skye told him, but she was still using their own language rather than English, in case anyone was listening through the door or something ridiculous like that.

 

After Ward's brief chat with FitzSimmons, he went back to his bunk to listen to what she and Fury were discussing.

Opening his laptop, he connected to the bug to hear what they were saying.

All he heard was some incoherent foreign language that he'd never heard before and doesn't have a hope of translating himself.

The girl was good. There was no way to deny it. Despite himself he started to feel the briefest stirring in his stomach, one that he hadn't felt in years. This was not good. He couldn't get attached to this girl. She was too valuble as an asset.

Just as he prepared to send the sound file to Hydra HQ, he found the file missing, as if it never existed. Cursing himself for not saving the file, he hoped he could save at least some of what they were currently saying, but he found that that too, had been cut off.

He was just glad he hadn't told Garrett about the phone call before. He'd be dead otherwise.

So. He had a nineteen year old girl who had hacked S.H.I.E.L.D. multiple times, was raised by The Cavalry and Agent Coulson, who was on first name basis with the Avengers. She called the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. "Furylicous" and had some insane twisted language with him. Oh, and she was able to pin May to the table in five seconds flat. Ward was doomed. This girl was beyond perfect to him. Maybe it would work out for the best? After he convinces her to join Hydra, she might see him as her saviour. Garrett would be happy if he had control over her. It really could work.

 

While all this was happening, May and Coulson had made their way up to his office.

They sat in silence, having felt the sting from seeing Skye happy. It was because of them that it was a rare occurance now.

"Their probably using that language thing they made" Coulson said, attempting to break the silence and tension, a smile on his face. Hearing that language always brought pleasant memories to him

_May and Coulson had just returned from a mission, leaving Fury with Skye._

_Whenever Fury took care of Skye, it would be a mix of staying at the house or at a S.H.I.E.L.D. facility._

_Although technically, Skye went to school, she wasn't a regular attender._

_Even though May and Coulson didn't want Skye to be dragged into the spy life style, it constantly happened that she was. She was at the Triskellion at least once a month for anytime from a day to a week._

_She was seen in a highly restricted hallways skipping along and singing a tune._

_Deputy Director was her sparring coach when May wasn't around or she was at a S.H.I.E.L.D. facility. She was a fast learner and it became something of a ritual for a few years. If you were a junior agent, fresh out of the Academy, you had to go against the little girl who was always around. No one really knew who she was. Senior agents knew better than to ask and junior agents were too terrified to._

_So, if you were a junior agent and the scary little girl happened to be there, you had to challenge her to spar._

_Skye won 8 out of 10 times._

_That was how Skye spent her days at S.H.I.E.L.D. In the mornings she'd have lessons with Fury, or any other high ranking agents, were she was taught many different things, such as how to dismantle a bomb, how to remove bullets. Basic first aid, which was actually quiet advanced but she didn't know that. She thought every six year old knew how to save someone from a bullet wound._

_She was taught Russian, Spanish, French, Mandarin, Cantanese, Japenese and German. She only learnt Ancient Greek and Latin with Fury._

_In the afternoon, she would train, whether it be fighting, shooting or knife throwing._

_In the evenings, she was free to do whatever she wished, whether it be to roam the halls, or much to everyones amusement, interrogate suspects._

_Even though no one really knew who Skye was, she was famous._

_One afternoon, just after her training was done, Uncle Nick called her aside and asked if she'd go in and ask the man where he put the proffesor. So Skye skipped into the room._

_She had to jump a few times to reach the chair and when she finally was sitting properly, her head was touching the table, forcing her to sit on the actual table itself. She just looked at him for a long time._

_This guy didn't look like a bad person. "This doesn't make sense" she huffed out in annoyance. "You don't look like a bad guy, so why are you here?"_

_The perp looked at her, pity in his eyes._

_"Because sweatheart" he told her, his eyes gentle "sometimes you gotta do something bad because more bad stuff will happen if you dont."_

_"Like what?" Skye asked, her interest peeked now._

_"Well you see" he told her "I've got a little girl too, just your age, some bad men took her, and if I don't do what they say, they'll do bad things to my little girl"_

_At that moment, Fury came in and told Skye it was time to go. She slid over to the other side of the table to give the perp a hug. She thought he looked sad and needed a hug and he hugged her right back. Fury was impressed. That was the first time anyone had gotten the guy to talk, let alone reveal important info._

_May and Coulson arrived at S.H.I.E.L.D. to pick up Skye. They went to Fury's office, where she spent most of her time, only to stop dead in their tracks once they opened the door._

_Skye was sitting on the desk, her cheap kiddie make up kit scattered around her. Fury sat in front of her with a messy, blonde wig on his head, rosy blush on his cheaks, blue eyeshadow on both his eyelid and his eye patch and a very messy lipstick job._

_Skye jumped up when she saw her parents and ran to hug them. Fury continued to scowl. "Not a word, either of you" is all he said_.

 

Thinking back to those memories were bittersweet for Coulson and May. Their daughter would not run into their arms again for a long time, if ever.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes Skye is BAMF who was raised to kickass and speak multiple languages, cos she's just that awesome


	6. Vodka and Tea

It would take two days to fly to the HUB. Skye wasn't looking forward to it. So far she liked the science twins. They seemed okay. She didn't tell them anything about herself though, she suspected that Coulson and May would drill them for information afterwards.

Ward was a completely different story. As much as she dislike and distrusted her parents, she didn't think they'd go so far as to have a bug planted in her car. So, was Ward acting alone or part of something bigger? While hacking into S.H.I.E.L.D. she had found multiple agents contacting unknown sources that all traced back to the same I.P address. She'd mention it to Fury when she saw him.

Ward seemed to have a new interest in her, which annoyed her to no end. To anyone else, it would have looked like he was simply being nice, but Skye was excellent at reading people, and felt that he was being creepy.

Skye spent almost the entire first day on the lower level of the BUS, wanting to avoid all except the science twins. She slept in her van, turning down the offer to sleep in one of the bunks. Frankly, her van was bigger and more comfortable.

The only time she did go upstairs was for the shower and food. There was only a toilet near the lab and Skye would never turn down free, decently cooked food. She avoided May and Coulson, an easy feat as Coulson stayed in his office and May had to pilot the plane. Ward was different though.  
He was constantly seeking her out, asking her to spar and asking personal questions about her past. Individually, the questions could be passed off as simple curiosity. It was the amount and how often he asked which tipped her off.

To an untrained individual, it would still feel uncomfortable, but seeing as he isn't actually being too evasive, one would feel ridiculous and forget about it.

Skye didn't trust Ward. She didn't know what he wanted from her but he wasn't going to get it.

Skye may have dropped many things when her parents abandoned her, like school and generally giving a shit about things, but she never stopped training. She was flexible and small, May, had taught her how to use that before leaving her, but Skye took it a step further by taking up gymnastics.

Neither her parents or Fury knew about it, which she loved. Her coach had pegged her for the Olympic team if she wanted. But then her Dad died, which just fucked everything up.  
May had always done Tai-Chi with her but Skye much preferred Yoga. 

Skye, exited her van, wearing a simple blue tank top and black leggings. She unrolled her mat and began.  
She wasn't much of a fan of the whole breathing or spirituality aspect of it, but she loved the stretching.  
She started, getting as far as balancing on her head until Ward interrupted her.

"Wow, you're pretty flexible" he said, dumbly.

"No shit, Sherlock" she replied sarcastically to him, shifting her position so her feet were in front of her, her lower back hovering over her head.

"Wanna spar?" Ward asked. It was only then that she noticed he was in her workout clothes. She supposed handing him his ass would be the only way to get him to leave her alone. Skye sighed and began to untangle her limbs from one another and stood up.

"Fine" Skye agreed warily.

Ward grinned triumphantly and began to get the matts out. 

Skye rolled up her matt, tossing it into her van and began to wrap her knuckles.

Unknown to either of them Coulson and May had been standing on the railings watching her yoga and now her fight.Even FitzSimmons had exited the labs to watch them fight.

"My money's on Skye" Fitz whispered to Simmons. "What?" he exclaimed after seeing Simmons face. "We've known Ward longer, seen him fight. We know nothing about Skye. Plus, Ward's got the height and weight advantage."  
"Hmm" was all Simmons said.

With the mats in place Skye took up a fighting stance that May taught her when she was three. May saw this and it brought a small smile of pride to her lips.

The fight didn't last more than thirty seconds.

Skye dodged or blocked every punch Ward aimed, got him in the gut and while he was busy recovering from it, she jumped up and kicked his head, dragging him to the ground. 

After a single punch to the face, he tapped out.

Ward hadn't gotten her once.

"Well that was fun" her voice dripped with sarcasm.

FitzSimmons were staring in shock, Ward was still on the ground, attempting to recover from the damage done to his head. May and Coulson had a look of pride before they left.

After FitzSimmons recovered from seeing Ward so easily beaten, they rushed to Skye, demanding to know where she learnt that. Skye smiled, the two of them reminding her of puppies. She smirked before telling them "Fury's more flexible then he looks."

Without another word she climbed into her van and shut the door behind her. After another few moments of shocked silence from FitzSimmmons, they start banging on Skye's van, complaining that she can't just drop a bomb like that and then walk away. After a second, Skye opens the door and lets them in.  
Everyone's too distracted to see Wards besotted look or the tent in his pants. 

 

"Tea?" Skye asked while putting the kettle on her tiny cooker. FitzSimmons nodded their agreement while taking in their surroundings. The van was small but it wasn't cramped. There were faery lights strung up in random places along with photos of Skye and her friends in various landmarks around America.

Skye sat on her desk chair, leaving Fitzsimmons on the bed. Skye was vigilantly keeping an eye on her computer, wondering if either of them would plant a bug like Ward did.  
A few silent moments passed while the kettle boiled and Skye got out the tea pot and cups, all the while keeping an eye out for bug alerts. Once the tea is made and poured, Skye is satisfied that they're not going to plant any bugs.

"So, what brings you to my humble abode?" Skye asked, an easy smile on her face. She was starting to like these two, even if they were under the command of her parents. It was something she was willing to forgive. How where they to know how awful they were?

"Well you can't exactly destroy Ward in five seconds" Simmons started "One of the best field agents we have" Fitz continued "Then act like it's no big deal" Simmons went on "then say that Fury taught you how to do it, like freaking Fury, best spy ever" was Fitz "And then brush it off like it's no big deal" Simmons finished.

Skye smiled at them. She supposed to anyone else what she did and said was note worthy. To her it was normal.

"That doesn't really answer my question though" She said while sipping her tea.

FitzSimmons look at each other, uncertainty written on their face. "How is it that Fury taught you to fight like that and you stand like May when you fight?" Simmons asks, her voice quiet and timid.

Skye's face darkens considerably. She's silent for a full minute before answering. "That is a long story that I'm not at all drunk enough to answer." With that Skye takes a bottle of vodka from somewhere hidden under her desk and takes several long drinks straight from the bottle. A quarter of it is empty by the time she's finished.

"How can you drink so much so quickly? That stuff tastes vile" Fitz asks

"Practise" is all she says.


	7. Drinking Problems and Lost memories

Skye supposed she may have had a bit of a drinking problem.From the time she was fourteen or so, she started drinking.

* * *

 

_She was just so sad all the time. She would cry until she was exhausted, her face and eyes always red, tears a constant on her face. Why didn't they love her? Why did they always go away?_

_She was left with a deep pit in her that never went away. After she met Miles, she was able to make herself a fake I.D. Not that she needed one. Her eyes were much older than those of a teenagers._

_Nothing, except maybe her parents, would fill the void inside her. But alcohal meant that she could ignore it. She cried, for the first time out of happiness, the first time she was drunk._

_She didn't care. She didn't care about how sad she was, or how her parents didn't love her any more. She was free of her sadness with vodka. It only made sense that she would continue to drink it._

_Her parents kept a bank account open for her to buy groceries and other stuff so she was never short for money. The money that should have gone for her dinner, went to vodka. The money for her school supplies went to pot and later on, ecstasy._

_Her "friends" were just like minded people who wanted to forget their problems. She became something of an idol in her neighbourhood._

_It was one of those upper middle class suburbs, where the girls tan until they die of cancer, guys are douches who don't know what no means, kids bug their parents for a car, even though they don't need it. If she had to sum it up, she'd say it was the classic popular group in every bad teen, high school movie._

_Skye completely stuck out for not being white or blonde. She loved it._

_Eventually the other fuck ups who didn't fit into the god awful social circle joined her in her house, where there were no parents to reprimand you, and got shit faced. Then the other hackers from the Rising Tide started coming over and drinking with her._

_Her house was one of the unofficial bases of the Rising Tide. Skye loved that her spy parents house was being used to help take down said spy agency._

_As she got older, her alchohal tolerance got higher, much to her dismay. So she bought more and more, just to get drunk. Eventually she couldn't get drunk at all. She still drank though. It kept the emptiness at bay. It wasn't the same as it being completely gone, but it was better than nothing._

_Her days were filled with hacking, her nights with vodka and pot._

_When Fury came and told her that her dad had died, the pit in her felt a bit smaller. She started drinking less and got actual friends instead of people who just wanted her booze. If her dad was dead, it meant he wasn't delibrately ignoring her anymore. She was finally beginning to move past what he did to her. Yes her mother still hated her and avoided her like the plague, something she would never really get over without help from either a proffesional or her mother, but it was all a bit more bearable now that her father was dead, like he deserved to be._

_The first year Skye was on her own was a good one. When she smoked it was for fun with friends, not to hide pain. She was a prominent member of the Rising Tide, and was a favourite to be the next leader._

_She kept her past to herself, deleting her history had proved very useful. She didn't want to be the angry drunk person that Skye Coulson was. That girl had parents who were either dead or didn't care. That girl was drunk all the time, had no real friends and didn't care about anyone or anything._

_The girl she was now, well she was just Skye, no last name. She's an orphan, born in China, looking for her birth parents. Skye is_ happy _. Something she hasn't been since she was twelve._

 

_It of course, goes to shit. She finds out her father is alive during a hack to S.H.I.E.L.D. Her father is still alive and still out there ignoring her. All the good she's accomplished in the last year, cutting back on her drinking, her friends, caring about things._

_She left the Rising Tide. She didn't know why, she just knew she couldn't stay anymore. Her van was the only thing she kept._

_She travelled around America, trying to destroy S.H.I.E.L.D. independently._

_She screamed when she found out about the team her father put together with her mother. So they were able to be with each other but not her. She doesn't remember the week that followed after that._

_After waking up with a hangover that she considered going to the hospital with, and a week full of lost memories, she decided it was enough. SHe let  her parents rule her life for too long and she wasn't going to put up with it._

_She took up Yoga and training again. She drank more daily than she did last year, but less than before her father died. It wasn't great, but it was manageable. She could cope._

_She started attacking S.H.I.E.L.D. with even more force than before, trying with everything in her to take the place down. Yes, Fury would be pissed at her when he found out, but she wasn't going to let that stop her._

_It was six months in to her second year alone that she started getting sloppy. Small stuff, but it built over time, until she wasn't hiding her location at all. That's how S.H.I.E.L.D. found her._

* * *

 

Skye thought about all this as she downed the vodka. FitzSimmons had left, leaving her to her drinking. "Maybe" she thought, "with them here, I'll get closure. Who knows?"

Not wanting to think anymore, she drank some more.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another little flashback, just to show how much May and Coulson have screwed up Skye.


	8. Childhood Memories and Knives

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well that went well....

Skye woke from her vodka induced sleep a few hours later. Her hangover was minor, having gotten used to them long ago.  
After she found out that they would be landing in a few hours, Skye went for a shower. She was absolutely buzzing with excitement. She couldn't wait to see her Furyliceous Pirate Man.  
Going down to her van, she put on a nice pair of jeans, loose top and a necklace Fury gave her. It also doubled as a GPS, should she ever be captured, had a tiny comms unit in it as well, but she disabled those when she ran. She slipped a knife in her boots, and one under her shirt. Being raised by spies meant that some habits are hard to break, constantly being armed was one of them.

She was just messing around on her computer when she heard May's voice through the comms, telling them to buckle up.  
Skye practically ran out of her van to buckle up. Simmons gave her an amused look. She expected Skye to be sad and hungover today, after last nights conversation. She wasn't expecting this happy, puppy version of Skye that was jumping around the place.

"What's got you so happy?" Fitz asked. Skye didn't answer, just smiled at him. As soon as they landed, Skye jumped up from her seat and waited for the cargo ramp to go down.  
Ward came down the stairs, suprised to see Skye so excited and bouncy. The four of them waited, everyone waiting to see what was making Skye so happy.

Coulson and May were watching them from the railing. Phil was holding May as she silently sobbed into his jacket. It hurt to see her so happy for someone else, knowing that this was probably the happiest she's been in months, and that her sadness was their fault.

The cargo ramp slowly lowered to reveal the usually stoic Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. with a massive grin on his face. Skye gave a small yelp of happiness, running to Fury before the cargo ramp had fully made its way down. She jumped the last bit off the ramp, and hugged Fury for all it she was worth.

Holding him tight she told him "Oh my Furylicous Pirate Man I've missed you." After a moment, they let go. Fury turned his back to her and bent slightly. Skye realised what he was doing, smiled, and jumped onto his back. she said through her laughter.

 

FitzSimmons stared in shock. They had never met the Director before, but they had heard horror stories at the Academy about how hard, ruthless and emotionless he could be. Rumour had it, that he once fired an agent for laughing at the wrong time. Seeing him like that, was something completely unheard of. It was only then that they realised just how important Skye must be, in order for the Director to behave the way he did with her.

Ward paled slightly when he saw Skye with the Director. It was more than obvious that they were close, like family. If he could convert her to Hydra, it would be amazing. Someone that close to Fury would be able to access literally every secret that S.H.I.E.L.D. had hidden. But if it didn't work and he revealed too much too soon, his head would be on a spike and Hydra would be compromised. It was not an easy decision to make. He'd have to ask Garrett later about it.

 

Meanwhile, Fury carried Skye down several highly restricted hallways chatting about nothing important, just talking because they could.

Fury set Skye down in front of a door, making a grand gesture towards it. Skye looked at him, smiling before opening it. It was her old classroom. Well, classroom could be used in the loosest possible form, it was more an apartment than classroom. There was a small lab unit where she learned how to counter act most poisons and how to create them, a small gun range that she used for throwing knives too, training mats, punch bags, treadmills and workout equipment everything she could need to become an excellent fighter.

In the corner there was a medical wing, where she learnt how to stitch people closed, remove bullets and what arteries to cut to make someone bleed fatally. In the middle of the room, her old desk stood, a whiteboard in front and several bookshelves filled with books on languages. Close to that was the kitchenette, where she learned how to survive on the bare minimum of food.

Her favourite part of the room, was the curtained off corner. That was where her bed was, where she slept whenever she came here. There was a large TV, bean bags,gaming systems that she and Fury had spent hours on. Her closet was there, with all her pre-teen clothes. Skye always wondered why she hadn't stayed here when her parents abandoned her. She always assumed her father told Fury not to.

Skye squealed when she saw the place, exactly the same from when she was last there. She ran to the various stations, taking everything in. "I've been looking for this" Skye said, holding up a necklace from her dresser.

Once she made her way to the training area, she held up a small, delicate looking knife. There were tears in her eyes. Peggy Carter had given Skye her first knife for her third birthday. Peggy wasn't around much, she was in her late seventies when Skye was born. But she'd been May's SO, so she made the effort to come around every now and then.  
Skye had tried visiting Peggy when she ran, but her dementia was so bad, she didn't even recognise her. Seeing the little knife brought so many memories back to Skye. Peggy was too old to train her, but she told Skye all about the brave Captain America, how even if you're small, you can still be brave. Peggy had told her how it's okay to do boy stuff and still like being a girl. Peggy had given Skye her first red lipstick, then taught her how to apply it. She missed Peggy.

She heard the door open and looked up. The two agents who had been with Fury when he told her of Coulsons death were there. She later found out that they were Avengers, but she didn't really care. She cared more about Captain America and Tony Stark. Those were two people she could get behind.

"Who are you?" Skye asked, curious. She had an idea of them, but nothing really solid.

"Tasha" the red head told her. "Clint" said the blonde man. Fury was watching them interact.

"Skye" was all she said in way of replies.

She put her knife down, realising it was probably the wrong thing to be messing with if she wanted to appear friendly.

"So you're Coulson and May's kid?" Everything went in slow motion after that. FUry closed his eyes, disappointment crossing his face, his shoulders tensing. Skye's smile vanished, her stance became predatory, her whole face darkened. The look of hate that came over her face was one of extreme hate that didn't belong to someone so young. 

She picked up her knife and threw it at a speed that impressed Natasha. It nicked his ear before wedging itself onto the wall behind them.

"Don't" she growled out, her voice low "call me that."


	9. Robot Hookers and Drunken Confessions

"Don't" Skye growled "call me that. Or next time I won't miss."

Fury was actually impressed that she'd only nicked Clint's ear. He expected much worse after Skye being called Phil and May's kid.

Natasha tensed, waiting for a further attack while Clint just looked confused, not knowing what he did wrong. Skye picked up her bag and made her way over to her bed, shutting the curtains behind her.

"Did you not read her damn file?" Fury whispered harshly to Clint. "I gave you that damn thing so you wouldn't say something stupid. She'd kill me if she knew I gave it to you."  
"I didn't think I'd have to" Clint started "I figured any kid of Coulson's would be cool. Coulson was a great guy, why would his kid react this way?" he asked, still confused over Skye's reaction.

"This is why you read the damn file" Fury whispered. He looked to Natasha for support. "I read it" was all she said. 

"Clint, read the fucking file, Natasha, damage control" Fury whispered warily, nodding to Skye's curtained off quarters and giving Clint a file that was in his jacket.

"Mind if I join you?" Natasha asked, pulling apart the curtain to reveal Skye sitting sitting on the bed, her bag open in front of her and a bottle of vodka glued to her lips. Skye put the bottle down. "Why not" she said, her words weren't slurred at all, to Natasha's surprise and she didn't even sway at all. 

Natasha took out Skye's knife from her jacket, inspecting it. She read out the inscription on it, that had blurred after so many years and so much use. It read "To my darling Skye, have a wonderful Birthday and don't stab anyone, Peggy."

Natasha wondered if the Peggy who gave Skye the knife, was Peggy Carter, founder of S.H.I.E.L.D. It would make sense. Natasha didn't know May personally, but she knew that Carter had been May's SO.

Natasha handed Skye back her knife. Skye offered her the vodka. Natasha took it, taking a drink. She nearly coughed it all back up the moment she drank it. This was some strong stuff and even her Russian liver could barely handle it. She passed the bottle back to Skye who then took several long gulps. Natasha was impressed.

Clint came in soon after, his anger carefully disguised. Phil Coulson had been a father to him, the first person he trusted in a long, long time. He knew the man wasn't perfect, but he had been caring, considerate. Everything a father should be. That man didn't match up to the discription in the file he was given. Phil Coulson wasn't the type to abandoned his kid when they needed him most. But he had. As someone who grew up in the foster system, he knew what it was like to not feel loved, or wanted. At least he knew his parents didn't do it willingly.

Clint sat down in a bean bag next to Natasha and was about to apolagise before Skye passed the bottle to him. So she was ok with what he said. He took a swig of the bottle, but his liver wasn't as strong as Tasha's, which meant he coughed is lungs out.

Skye had set up one of the gaming systems but stopped to take the bottle back from Clint.

"Are you even legal to drink yet?" he asked her. "Well legally, I don't exist, so let's just go with it" She replied before taking a drink. Jesus, this girl drank the stuff like it was water.  
"Who wants to kill Robot Hookers?" Skye asked.

 

Once Fury was sure Skye wouldn't kill the two of them, he left to go find May and Coulson. He was pissed. Fury had known Skye since she was a baby. He had his reasons for keeping away from Skye in her teenage years. Hopefully, one day, he could tell her why.

She had always sounded sad when he called, but he would have never guessed the amount of pure rage that she exuded when someone called her Coulson's and May's daughter.   
He made his to the BUS, and went up to Coulson's office.   
Neither Coulson nor May showed any signs of surprise at seeing him. May's eyes were red, the only sign that she had been crying.

"How is she?" Coulson asked, his voice small. Skye hadn't spoken to him once. He had no idea how she was. 

"I left her in her old room with Natasha and Clint. She threw a knife at Clint." Coulson smiled at that, but it quickly disappeared when Fury continued. "He called her your kid, which caused the knife incident."

"They're both angry at you, Phil. Clint especially."

"Permission to notify them of my revivial, sir?" Phil asked, his voice full of hope.  
"Granted."

 

Skye, Natasha and Clint where sitting around the TV, shooting robot hookers with machine guns. Skye had passed the bottle around multiple times, with Skye getting slightly intoxicated. Natasha and Clint faked how much they actually drank, only taking tiny sips, but even that was enough to make them disorientated and slightly dizzy. They were seriously impressed with Skye's tolerance.

Skye grunted in disapproval when she reached the end of the bottle. Much to everyone's surprise, she was only mildly tipsy. 

"How the hell can you drink so much?" Clint finally asked. Skye just smirked at him, rached over to her bag, shuffling throught the contents. Eventually, she pulled out a joint and a lighter.

Once it was lit, and she'd had her fill, she offered it to the other two, who declined. Natasha had never been much of a smoker, but Clint had had a fair share of experiences from foster homes, and he could smell exactly how strong this stuff was.

After a long time and two joints later, Skye was suitably intoxicated.

"It usually takes more to get me to this level" she commented "maybe it's cause I haven't eaten today.."

"How are you not dead? Or at least significantly more high right now?" Clint asked in severe disbelief. Skye turned so her head was hanging off the edge of the bead, looking at the two of them upside down.

"Oh you know how it is," Skye started, a giggle in her voice "A village in China dies protecting an 0-8-4, the 0-8-4 ends up being a little baby, Baby goes to two agents. They love her, care for her, sing her to sleep, teach her how to fight the bad guys. Mommy goes out, when she comes back, she looks at you and cries. Mommy leaves, then Daddy won't look at you without wincing. Daddy leaves too, but pretends to still care. Baby feels sad. Baby finds out she doesn't feel sad with vodka. She drinks lots and lots of it." Skye's voice had started to sound like a childs.

"She drinks so much she can't get drunk anymore. She starts doing other minor stuff, it's ok. And then great news! Daddy's dead! Daddy isn't ignoring Baby anymore. Baby gets better, doesn't drink as much, gets friends, it's all great. Then, she finds out Daddy's not dead, and still ignoring her. It all goes down the drain and she starts drinking again. Baby finds out Mommy and Daddy are together again, just not with her. Baby doesn't remember the week after that. She decides, no more! She get's her shit together, only for Mommy and Daddy to find her." 

Natasha and Clint were tense and on edge after hearing Skye's story. Fury didn't say anything about an alchohal problem. Or Coulson being alive. They didn't think they could be more pissed at Coulson, but they were.

Skye took a fourth joint out of her bag. In three breaths she was finished.

"I should be able to sleep now." She promptly passed out on the bed.


	10. Don't Fuck With Angry Assassians

Natasha and Clint looked at each other once Skye had passed out. They were both extremely angry at Coulson. How could he do that to his own kid? They didn't know May, but they'd heard about what happened in Bahrain. That she came out of it different.

Coulson hadn't talked about May much, but whenever he had, it was clear to the two that he still cared deeply for her. They had no idea how that felt, but they knew that leaving your child was the right way to deal with heartbreak.

Once they tucked Skye under the covers and removed the knives off her, they went to the kitchen, hoping some water would clear their heads, and food would soak up the small amount of vodka in their systems. They barely had any, not even a full mouthful each, but the stuff was potent. 

"She's gonna have a killer hangover tomorrow" Clint commented. He wasn't sure what to do with his anger, he'd never felt so much of it in his life. Natasha was used to dealing with rage, knew how to store it a way, to be used when it was needed.

 

Just at that moment, Phil walked in. Natasha immediately threw her mug at him, which he dodged, and then shattered against the wall.  
"Won't that wake her?" Clint asks, too angry to even look at Phil, let alone talk to him.  
"No, she's out cold" Natasha answers Clint, avoiding Coulson as well.

"I know you're mad at me, you have every right to be" Coulson's statement was met with glares, nevertheless, he continued "You were lied to about my death, and it was unfair to let you keep thinking tha-" he was interrupted by Clint.

"Not telling us you were alive was a dick move, no one's arguing that. That's a whole other thing we'll get to later. Our main problem right now, is the girl who's passed out drunk, with the eyes of a fucking veteran." Clint wasn't even shouting. He was talking in a clear calm and quiet voice. This wasn't good at all. He looked Coulson directly in the eye, just so he would see how furious he was. Clint had wanted, more than anything, to see Coulson again. He didn't picture them meeting again like this. "Our problem" he continued "is that, that god damn girl has a serious alcohol tolerance, thanks to a childhood of drinking. Drinking, because it was the only way she would stop crying. Drinking so much she can't get drunk anymore. Did she tell you that she only started to get better after you died? That things were looking good, because you weren't ignoring her anymore." He knew what he was saying was hurting Coulson. A lot. Hell, it could kill him, but he needed to know exactly how fucked up Skye was because of Coulson's actions.

"Did she tell you that after May became part of the team, she got so fucked up, she doesn't remember the following week? You fucked up Coulson. Big time."

Natasha didn't say anything, just gave him one of her legendary glares.

Phil sat down on a chair, his head low. The glares Clint and Natasha were sending him were intense and unwavering.

"In Bahrain" Phil started, his voice heavy "something happened to Melinda. It changed her. A little girl died in the crossfire. There's more to it than that, but it's not my story to tell."  
"When she got home, she saw the little girl in Skye. She saw her own inability to protect in the dead girl, and by extension, Skye. It was too much for Melinda, so she left. And I couldn't stop her." There were silent tears streaming down his face now. Clint and Natasha were still tense and angry, everyone was affected by missions, it didn't give you an excuse to give everything else up.

Phil ploughed through "I hated myself so much for it, still do, but I couldn't look at Skye without seeing the reason Melinda left. I couldn't look at her without seeing Melinda herself. She got sad when Melinda left, which made her so much more like the current Melinda. I couldn't cope either, so I left too. When she was about sixteen or so, she changed the locks to the house. When I woke up after I died, she had been gone for months."  
"My last thought before I died, was how I couldn't leave her, except that I'd left her years ago. When I woke up, my main priority was to get her back." 

"We found her, completely by accident. Fury set up a search, very high priority, but she was good, stayed hidden for two years. We didn't even know it was her when we found her. She was just some hacker trying to take S.H.I.E.L.D. down. She wouldn't talk to us, wouldn't look at us. Stayed in her van almost the entire time. I've no right to it, but I want my baby back. May's gotten better, she misses Skye so much. We can't make up for lost time, we can't take back what we did. We just want to be whole again and without Skye we'll never be."

Neither Clint nor Natasha said anything to that and it was worrying Coulson. He could handle their insults their punches, but this was something new. No death threats from Natasha, no sarcastic remarks from Clint.

Natasha finally broke the silence, speaking for the first time.  
"My parents died and the Red Room took me. Tortured me, turned me into a weapon, all the abusive shit you could go through and by some miracle, I turned out relatively okay. You know why I think I didn't turn into a psycopath? Because I knew why. I knew they wanted a weapon, they weren't just doing it for fun. I knew, that my parent's had loved me before they died, and would never let anything bad happen to me if they were still alive. This mess of a girl in there, didn't have that luxury. She didn't know why you stopped loving her, why the bad stuff happened, why mom and dad stopped fighting her demons and let her get ripped apart by them. What you did, is not on Coulson. I don't even know if it's forgiveable. I know I wouldn't."

Coulson looks defeated. He knows' she's right. What he did was something that would make his mother turn over in her grave. Natasha drags him out of his head.  
"Which is why I want you to know" she told him, looking at him for the first time "we#'re doing this, not for you, but for the girl who's had to deal with too much, who needs her parents and fucking rehab if she doesn't stop soon."

Coulson has a fresh look of hope on his face, that quickly disappears as soon as Natasha punches his face. "This isn't over Coulson" she tells him, pulling him into a hug "and it isn't forgotten. But that girl needs her parents more than I need revenge."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, I'm an asshole for not updating sooner. I had a lot of trouble with this chapter, than I had a family reunion and I was way busier than I thought. So, sorry for being an asshole and taking so long.


	11. Secret Passageways and Stabbings

Skye woke to the sound of quiet chatting. Her headache was minor, but her mouth tasted disgusting. Looking around, she saw a bottle of water on the dresser, next to some pain killers. Skipping the meds, she drank some water, trying to get rid of the taste in her mouth.

Getting up, she moved the curtain and moved to the shower. She waved but didn't look at them, too busy setting up her shower playlist. Skye disappeared into the bathroom, never looking up.

"How is she not dead?" Clint mumbled into his coffee. He had drank a litre of water before he went to sleep and taken several pain meds to help prevent a hangover, but it persisted. His throat was dry, his head pounded. Natasha wasn't much better. Phil chuckled at them both. "How much did you both drink?" he asked them. "Less than a shot" Natasha replied.

Phil just chuckled again before starting to make pancakes. They were an old family recipe, Skye adored them. He only cooked them on big occasions like Christmas and birthdays, or if Skye got an A in a test, Melinda got a promotion.   
Taking out his phone, he texted Melinda to meet him in Skye's quarters.

 

Skye stayed in the shower for a good hour, washing her hair and just enjoying the heat, that was slowly waking her up, dancing along to the music on her phone. Her memories from last night were mostly missing, but she wasn't worried. She was in a secure facility, surrounded by spies, not to mention the two super assassians who were with her the night before. Her last memorie was of playing Robot Hookers Die 2. Shrugging, she continued to dance. She stopped suddenly when a familiar scent hit her.  
She hadn't smelled that in years. What the hell was going on? Was there an intruder, trying to lure her in a false sense of security? Well whoever it was, obviously had some bad info. The smell of her father's pancakes had her on high alert immediatly. Her father sure as hell wouldn't cook them. He didn't care enough about her to make them.

Keeping the shower and her music on, she slipped out of the shower, putting a towel around herself and her hair up in a bun. She grabbed a knife from the plumbing of the sink.  
When the room was built, there had been several secret passages added. There was no paperwork of them and only Skye knew what led where. It was a complex maze in there. Not even Fury knew how to navigate them. 

Skye removed one of the tiles from the floor, slinking down to the underground passage, putting the tile back as she went. She followed the scent to the kitchen, climbing up a ladder until she could slide out of a compartment of the wall that was practically invivible, knife in hand, waiting to attack.

She was not prepared for what she saw.

Her mother, the Ice Queen, was laughing with Clint over something or another. Her father was laughing with Natasha as he flipped pancakes. They were all, save Phil, eating pancakes and joking like best friends.

Placing a mask of fury on her face, she leaves her hiding place, knife in hand, and starts walking to her bed.

The noise stops when everyone sees her. She doesn't look at any of them, just walks through. 

Natasha and Clint were left feeling confused. They were super spies for fucks sake, how did they not hear a Skye? Natasha had advanced freaking hearing and even she didn't hear her. Phil and Melinda were sad that their baby was so sad and angry.

It wasn't pleasant when Melinda found out about Skye's drinking. It didn't help that Natasha had nearly broken her nose only moments before.

"Skye?" Melindas' voice was soft and timid, a hint of hope in there too. Skye stopped but didn't turn around. "Do you want to join us for breakfast? You must be hungry."  
Skye never turned around, just threw the knife at Melinda, which she only just caught. She sighed, expecting no less reaction and sat back down. Skye disappeared behind the curtain, having never looked at them once.

Phil sighed. He should have known better than to suprise Skye like that. She hated suprises. Or did she? He honestly didn't know. He knew the child Skye. He knew her as an innocent little girl who hated Barbie and did Tai Kwan Do around the house like a dance. He didn't know this girl and that was becoming clearer and clearer to him.  
He looked over to Melinda and saw her draw the same conclusion as he had. They had fucked up so much.

"Now that" Clint saw the look on Coulson and May's face "was an impressive shot for someone so hungover."

He grabbed a plate, shoveled pancakes on it, and walked over to Skye's quarters. He opened the curtain to find her with headphones on, blasting music so loud, even his slighlty deaf ears could hear, and typing furiously on her laptop.

He plucked the headphones off her head and earned an annoyed "hey!" in return.

"So, is your lack of a hangover something to do with your extreme alcohol tolerance?" Clint asked amused. He peeked at her laptop to see the screen split in two, a redacted S.H.I.E.L.D. document on one half, and several lines of code on the other. Skye quickly turned it away when she saw Clint looking.

"Something like that" was all she said in way of reply. She got off her bed and went to get changed behind her screen. Once she was done she got back to her bed to see neither Clint nor the laptop had been moved.

She scrunched up her nose in disgust when she saw the pancakes.

"Not a fan?"  
"Not anymore" Skye muttered, her face dark. She attacked the keyboard even more feroicly then before, as if finding a new reason to type.

Clint sat there for a while, not knowing how to act. How could he help Skye forgive Phil, when he couldn't even do it himself?

He started to eat the pancakes, not noticing Skye's look of disgust. To Skye, this just showed her that Clint was on Phil and May's side.

She rummaged around in the bag she brought from the bus and found, to her immense joy, another bottle if vodka. It was much smaller, only a litre bottle, and was disguised to look like water. It was perfect for drinking in public.

Clint saw the bottle and was happy for a moment, that Skye was getting some water in her. That was, until he caught the smell of it.

"Nope" was all he said, as he snatched the bottle out of her hands.  
"Hey" Skye exclaimed "I was drinking that"  
"I know you were" he replied "and no matter how good your tolerance is, you gotta think of your liver."

"No I don't" she said "I had a doctor friend do some work on me a year ago, check ups and all that shit. I heal fast."

She saw that he wasn't convinced, so she grabbed a knife from one of the many hidden places of the room.

"Hey, where did that come fro-" He was cut off by the sight of Skye stabbing herself in the gut. She winced slightly, but before she could explain, Clint was screaming for the others. She sighed when they all came rushing in, only to stop short at the sight of the knife in her.

May screamed, Coulson went pale and sunk down to his knees, Natasha ran off to get medical supplies, Clint just sat there, dumb struck and Skye just sighed.

Natasha came back with bandages, a needle and thread and scissors. Clint reached for the bottle of vodka, attempting to clean the cut from infection.

"For fuck sake, would you all just chill, Clint, if you come near me with that bottle and cause me extra pain, I will end you." It didn't stop them, so she took matters into her own hands.

She removed the bloodied knife from her stomach, to gasps from the others at her lack of reaction. She lifted her shirt up to show the knife wound healing rapidly. It was gone in seconds, without a single mark left to show what had just happened.  
"So Clint, as you can see, my liver is fine, so give me the fucking vodka."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been having a bit of trouble with the story lately, which is why the updates have been so irregular. I know where I want the story to be, I'm just having trouble getting there. Hopefully, I'll figure it out soon, and update more regularly


	12. Even More Stabbing

Clint wordlessly handed the bottle back to Skye, too shocked to say anything. She took a small drink from it, sighed in satisfaction and then went back to her laptop, effectively ignoring everyone.

"Well that's something you don't see everyday" Clint said, the first to break out of his shock. Steve had similar healing abilities, but nothing nearly as fast as that. Natasha was about to ask what the ever loving fuck had just happened, but was stopped when Fury entered the room.

He froze when he saw everyone gathered around Skye, all of them still as a rock. Fearing the worst, he quickly made his way over. he breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Skye unharmed, sitting in the bed and typing. He stopped short when he saw her ripped and bloodied top.

"What the fuck happend here" Fury practically roared. Natasha and Clint shared a look. Fury never got this pissed. Angry, yes. Furious, of course. But this, this was uncharted water. No one had lived to tell the tale of Fury losing his calm. It just didn't happen. They knew Skye was important, knew that Fury cared deeply for the girl, but they didn't realise exactly how much Fury cared. The human side of Natasha thought it was great that Fury had someone to humanise him. The logical part told her that if anyone was to get their hands on Skye, they could run S.H.I.E.L.D. through Fury. She'd have to teach Skye to defend herself, and fast.

May and Coulson paled even more when they heard Fury. They were not ready to deal with him after what they had just seen. Skye just laughed before jumping up and giving him a hug to reassure him. She fucking _l_ _aughed_ for gods sake. Clint was in way over his head, he realised. Skye started babbling in some weird ancient sounding language that Clint had no hope of understanding. Then she fucking stabbed herself _again,_ batting her eyes like nothing had happened. Fury lost his shit for a moment before Skye started to talk again.

Instead of Fury looking reassured, his face got darker and darker, as did Skye's. She took a deep breath before whispering something, her head down. Fury closed his eyes and pulled Skye into a bone crushing hug. Clint was baffled. He had never seen such vulnerability on the Directors face. He came to the same conclusion as Natasha. This girl needed to learn to defend herself, because if she was caught, SHIELD could be controlled by anyone.

May and Coulson were both visibly shaken up. How did their child figure out they had a gift like that? It sent dark thoughts spiralling through their heads. They both hoped Skye had continued with her training so she could defend herself, but they had no way to know.

* * *

Skye jumped up to hug Fury, happy to see him again. It was all well and good until Fury saw her shirt.

<Okay, don't freak out but I've something to show you.> Fury didn't look convinced. He freaked out completely when she stabbed herself. He only calmed down when he saw that the wound was completely healed.

<Skye, how long have you known about this?> Fury asked, his voice low. <More importantly  _how_  do you know about this?>  Her face darkened then. She knew she would eventually have to tell this story. She just hoped that that time would come, well, never.

<Do you remember when I was 15 around Summer?>  It was a pointless question she knew. Around that time, she had gotten extremely depressed. Fury had even gone so far to send Agents to the house to make sure she was okay. They never found anything physically wrong with her, so they left. Skye just got better at hiding her depression and then drowning it with vodka.

Her voice was barely above a whisper now. <The Agents never saw anything wrong because the cuts healed so quickly.>  There was a single tear rolling down her face.

She despised showing weakness. It was something she prided herself on. The only person she could really be vulnerable in front of nowadays was Fury, and even then, it was a rare occurance. He gave her a tight hug, making her feel safe, something she hadn't felt in a while, but no more tears fell.

When they were done, Fury led her to the kitchen and started making hot chocolate. She smiled at that. He would only ever make it when she fell and hurt her knee, someone was mean to her, or anything else that made her upset.

Clint and Natasha joined them as they sipped their drinks. "So, Skye, obviously your knife skills are great and your stealth, but how's your combat skills?" Skye kept her face neutral, slightly curious and happy, something Natasha would expect. She gave Fury a small look. "Absolutely awful" She told her. "Fury's tried to train me, but I suck at it." Fury gave a small chuckle "It's true, she's horrible, unteachable." "Well that's going to have to change" Natasha said firmly. "You got any workout clothes here?" She asked Skye. At Skye's nod, she continued, "Meet me at the mat in five minutes." Skye nodded and smiled, this was gonna be  _fun_.

* * *

Five minutes later, Skye and Natasha were on the workout mat, both in gym gear. Fury had filled in May and Coulson onto what was happening and had a bet going over who would win. Clint was completely oblivious.

"Okay, we're gonna go a nice simple warm up round, just simple sparring, sound good?" Natasha asked Skye. She smiled and nodded.

No one was really sure when Natasha realised Skye wasn't a complete failure when it came to combat. It was probably when Skye managed to flip Natasha onto her back within the first five seconds. The only thing that they could agree on was that it was a dance. a beautiful, mesmerising dance. The two moved gracefully, full of confidence. They easily matched each other in skill and strength.

After half an hour, Natasha felt a thin sheen of sweat over her body. Sweating didn't happen to her when it was just training. Once she saw that neither she nor Skye were going to back down soon, she called it quits.  
"You are a better liar then I thought. Congratulations."

"Mind if I have a go?" May asked Skye. The whole room held their breath. This wasn't expected.   
Skye gave a terse nod. She was going to enjoy this.

The fight consisted of Skye hitting May, and May doing little to avoid it. Phil had an idea of what May was doing, but didn't think this was the best way to relieve some of the anger Skye felt for them. After ten minutes, Skye called it off. May was bruised and bloodied, but she didn't seem to mind.

To everyone's surprise, the amount of tension in the room had lessened. Not much, but it was still less than yesterday.

 


	13. Moles and Avengers

Everyone was surprised when Skye stopped glaring at May everytime she looked at her. She stopped glaring at Phil as well, after 'accidentally' stabbing him in the arm during practise. She bandaged him up herself, glaring at anyone who tried to help. She was anything but gentle, not using anesthetic, and giving him twice as many stitches as he needed.

Phil took it all in his stride, making as many pained noises as he could, knowing this was what Skye needed. He snuck some pain meds when Skye's back was turned. May gave him a small smile in apology for their daughters behaviour. She didn't look much better. Almost her entire face was bruised from the beating she got from Skye.

Neither of them minded. Not really. They deserved much worse, and would do anything to get their daughter's love back. 

* * *

The day was going normally enough. As normal as it could be when the room was filled with a super spy, two pissed off assasians, a man who was legally dead, an 084, and possibly the best spy in SHIELD history.

Skye was on the couch with Natasha and Clint when she remembered what she had to tell Fury. She got up from the couch, she made her way to the kitchen, calling for Fury to join her in their language.

Fury was worried. They were in a secure facility, with trustworthy people, she wouldn't use the language unless it was extremely important.

<You've got a mole> Skye cut straight to the point, not bothering to sugar coat it. <Or several, I'm not sure. Several high agents are reporting to untraceable numbers. Then, they give their teams different assignments to the ones that have been ordered.>

Fury let out a string of curses. He expected something like this, but had no solid proof of what was happening. This just confirmed his fears.                                                     Skye started to make some tea while Fury's mind went a mile a minute. Once he was done, she handed him a cup of tea, while sipping her own cup. <I've got a possible lead on one of the agents. As far as I can tell, they all report to the same untraceable I.P address, which makes me think they're working in a group, rather than independently.>

<That's not the only thing I found out. The Winter Solider. He's real. Works for the other guys. Badly brainwashed. They store him cryogenically between the times they need him.> <How do you know he's brainwashed and stored between uses?> Fury asked. <Well I'm pretty sure Bucky Barnes should be dead by now and not killing people.> Skye answered. Fury swore. <You're sure?> he asked. <I've seen photos of him myself.> 

<Who's the agent?> Fury asked changing topic. He'd have to talk to Steve later. <Grant Ward, the one who tried to bug my van. I deleted the file off his computer before he could send them off.  He has a thing for me.> Skye crinkled up her nose in disgust at the last part. Ward was nothing short of creepy to her. <I beat his ass in thirty seconds. It was fun.>.  


<Ward's a good agent, bad with people, possesive. You said he had a thing for you?> SKye nodded.

Fury was quiet for a long time. He didn't like what he said next, but it had to be said. <I need you to let Ward recruit you. Find out what's trying to take SHIELD down. If that doesn't work, we torture the fuck out of him.> Fury grimaced at the last part, while Skye had a small smirk on her face. Because of the way she grew up, she had become angry and violent. Crushing Ward sounded like a great thing to do.

* * *

 

Skye was looking forward to going undercover. She didn't tell Fury, but she had seen the damage the other group had done, the people they had killed. If she could help in any way to bring them down, she would. Without a doubt, she would.

She had no trouble concealing her emotions, she'd been doing it for years.

Her thoughts of going undercover were interrupted when the door was blasted open. Skye ducked into one of her hidden tunnels before anyone else could react. The tunnels were well stocked when it came to weapons, Fury even went so far as to order a weapons room built into the tunnels. The tunnels went all over the SHIELD facility, with multiple entrances and exits so Skye could always escape, no matter where she was. 

She made her way to the weapons area, arming up. She grabbed two guns and strapped them to her legs, before hiding knives in there as well. Guns were well and good, but they ran out of ammo, and could be inpredictable and jam up.

Strapping a machete onto her back, she made sure everything was secure and loaded. She had hidden three more knives onto her torso and had a gun in both hands. Taking a large drink of the vodka she stored in the tunnel the other day, she started to make her way back. She would see how serious the situation was before getting back up.

* * *

 

Coulson was in a daze. His ears were ringing from the blast to the door. He tried to focus his mind. Skye. Protect Skye. Make sure Skye's alright. Melinda. Is she okay? What's that big red piece of metal coming closer? Why is there blue next to it?

His mind snapped into focus. Ironman and Captain America were right in front of him. He saw, to his immense release, Melinda standing protectively in front of him, shielding him from the wrath of the Avengers. He looked to the side and saw Natasha chatting with Bruce in the kitchen, cups of tea in their hands. How long had he been out?

Once his ears stopped ringing, he heard Clint talking to Tony and Steve. "Why the fuck are you both suited up?" he asked, frustration lacing his voice. "Natasha didn't exactly tell us why we were needed, only that it was urgent, we thought you were in trouble" Tony  replied indignantly.  "Turns out, you weren't in trouble. But he" Tony turned to face Coulson "is about to be in a shit ton of it." 

May's stance switched from defence to attack. Steve looked pissed. He thanked any and every God that Thor wasn't there. Luckily for him, Fury chose that exact moment to butt in.

"Everyone calm the fuck down" Fury told them, his voice even. "As you can all see, Agent Coulson is alive. He was however, legally dead for six seconds. Once he was revived, he wanted to tell you all. I gave him direct orders not to. If you're going to be angry at anyone, be mad at me." Fury looked around, noticing Skye's disappearance.

"Shit" he cursed, suddenly on high alert. Everyone else copied, expecting a threat. Only May and Coulson knew what he was on about.

"Prepare yourself. _D_ _o not attack under any circumstances._ " Fury told them. Clint and Natasha looked at each other, noticing Skye's absence. They smiled at each and relaxed. Natasha reassured Bruce that everything was fine.

They all watched in amusement as Steve and Tony were on high alert, looking everywhere for the threat.

After about five minutes, they were starting to relax and get bored. Tony turned to Fury. "Are you sure we're under attack right n-" He cut himself off by screaming. Hanging off of God knows what was a teenager hanging upside down with a gun in Tony's face and one pointed at Steve.

She disengaged herself from the ceiling, flipping so she would land on her feet. Throughout the flip and the landing, she kept both guns and her eyes trained on Steve and Tony. 

<Are they safe?> she asked Fury, her eyes still on the two. <Yeah, they're safe> he replied with a chuckle. Immediatly her stance relaxed, after tucking both her guns into her leg straps, she offered her hand and smiled. 

"Hi, I'm Skye. Nice to meet you."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, I'm an even bigger of an asshole than before for waiting so long to update. I had trouble with the start of the chapter and then school started up again so i was exhausted. I'll be getting my Junior Cert results next week then going away for two days, so I don't know when ill get a chance to update again. I'll try to get it written in the next few days.
> 
> Okay, so because I can't decide myself, I'm gonna have a vote over who Skye's gonna end up with. Each reader has one vote only. The options are; Steve, Tony and Bucky. If you have any other suggestions over who to ship Skye with, I'll take them into consideration. Votes will no longer be valid after next Saturday, the 12th.  
> So, vote away.


	14. I'm an asshole for not updating sooner, I know

Skye didn’t fully remove her finger from the gun even though Fury had confirmed they were friendlies and she recognised them as Avengers. Skye didn’t trust anyone anymore. It was a point of pride for her at this stage.

 Silently, she assessed the situation. The Hulk had yet to emerge. Kudos to Natasha for keeping him calm. The Great and Mighty Captain America was hiding behind his shield. The Amazing Iron Man had his hands up covering his face. May had a protective stance in front of Coulson. Clint was too busy laughing to do much else.

She was ready to shoot them all just to get some peace.

They wouldn’t be her first kill. She doubted they’d be her last.

Skye felt heavy. She was constantly telling herself she was better off without her parents. She told herself she didn’t miss the love, support and stability that they had once given her. But a girl can only lie to herself so often. She missed the love and comfort she got, but she certainly didn’t miss her parents. She doubted she would ever miss her parents.

Skye didn’t remember anything really before she was about four. That gave her eight years of good memories. But the memories were hazy, like many childhood memories are. They didn’t feel solid. The memories felt like dreams from a different life.

What she _did_ remember, was almost eight years of pure misery, grief, depression and anxiety. Those memories where fresh and crystal clear, something she could never really forget, no matter how much poison she pumped into her body. At some stage, she had befriended a psychology student who said something about her drinking habbits coming from childhood scars. Skye always had to laugh at that. Scars meant the wounds had healed, that they were all closed up, a distant memory of the pain. Skye didn’t have scars. She had deep wounds that constantly blead. At one stage, they had begun to close, but when her father was resurrected, her wounds were ripped open, just as his were healed.

She didn’t _want_ to pretend in front of so many people that she wasn’t as fucked up as she was. Skye had given Nat and Clint a brief look into her fucked up psyche, but that was all it was. Brief. She wouldn’t give her parents the satisfaction of seeing what a fuck up they’d made her. She wouldn’t let Nick be disappointed in her by seeing what she really was.

She gave the two Avengers a brief glare before spinning on her heels and walking away, pulling another vodka bottle from under her childhood desk. She didn’t even look or slow down, in one stride, taking the bottle. Not giving them a chance to argue, she disappeared into the wall, going into one of her tunnels.

“God fucking dammit, we’ve been here two days, and she’s got that shit planted everywhere” Fury seemed pissed about it, but no one could deny the pride in his eyes. Only Skye could hide several large bottles of liquid, undetected, in a room full of super spies.

If Phil had needed any more reasons to love his daughter, he’d just gotten one. Without realizing it, she had saved his from the ass whooping of a lifetime from the Avengers. He decided not to mention it to Skye though. With all her hatred for Phil, she would single handedly given him said ass whooping.

“Who, or what the fuck was that?” there was severe disbelief and shock in Tony’s voice. He was Iron Man for fuck sake! He didn’t scream at tiny little teenagers. Granted, said tiny little teenager had a gun pointed to his face, but that was irrelevant.

“That” Fury had a large smirk on his face “was Skye Coulson.”

<I told you not to fucking call me that> Skye’s disgusted voice came out of seemingly nowhere. It sounded like she had spit out the words. Fury grimaced before replying <Won’t happen again>

It was only then that Fury cursed his own intelligence. He had not thought that Skye would turn up as she did, angry, bitter, and a heavy distrust of Shield. He reflected, that he should have taken every possibility into account when he built her the tunnels. Because now, she had access to the entire Shield facility and could eavesdrop without anyone being the wiser.

Fury hoped that Skye’s love for Fury outweighed her hatred of Shield. He _really_ hoped her love for Fury outweighed her hatred of Shield.

“Follow me” Fury told them all. “The walls have ears” He whispered.

Never saying a word, Fury led them onto the BUS, up to Coulson’s office. Thankfully, the team was gone, leaving no idle ears around.

“Someone wanna tell me what the hell is going on?” Rogers didn’t sound happy.

“19 years ago I sent two of my best agents to handle an 084. There were… complications. For a year, the two agents went undercover with the 084, in hopes of finding out what powers it possessed, if any. Unfortunately, the agents fell in love with each other and the 084.”

“How can you fall in love with an 084?” Tony asked annoyed.

“I was getting to it” Fury glared at Tony “the 084 had originally been found Hunan province of China. The village had been massacred in an attempt to save the 084. It was then brought to our attention that the 084 was an infant girl.”

Fury paused, noting everyone’s expression. He had yet to reveal that the child was Skye, but he assumed Natasha and Clint could put two and two together. “After the year undercover, the agents decided it would be a fucking marvellous idea to become parents of a child that could potentially blow up the world if she had a temper tantrum.”

“I’ll have you know Skye never threw temper tantrums, she was a lovely child” May butted in. No one was going to call her child misbehaved.

_“You?”_ Tony’s face was priceless as he took in the new information. “You and Coulson? Together? With a kid? And said kid just put a gun up to me face? Fucking hell.”

* * *

 

Skye was bored. She hated the Shield centres. They were so drab and grey and _boring_. Why couldn’t they add a bit of colour? What was wrong with colour?

She didn’t know what she was doing here. She had been here for two days and she was no closer to finding her real parents. Sure, it had been nice seeing Fury and hanging out with Natasha and Clint, but it definitely was not fun having to deal with her parents so much.

“Fuck this shit” she muttered to herself, making up her mind.

Getting weapons, knifes, ammo, tactical gear, vodka and food together, she made her way to the quinjets through her tunnels.

She was done waiting for people, done with feeling so shit. Boarding the quinjet, she set a course for China.

Time to go find Mom and Dad


	15. Hidden Villages

There is something intensely boring about planes. No matter where you’re going, how short the journey is, how excited or nervous you are, eventually, you get bored. When Skye first got on the plane, she wiped the live video feed from the quinjet, set in her location to the autopilot and disabled the GPS tracker. After that, boredom set in. That was until she became completely overwhelmed by all her emotions. For one thing, she was much more sober than usual, meaning her usual denial method of coping was failing, which meant everything was only just hitting her. Like how she had seen and spoken to her parents for the first time in a few years. That there was a chance she might actually find her real parents.

She might actually find her real parents.

The realisation hit her like a bullet to the chest and Skye found it difficult to breathe. She searched the area for any liquids she had, but only found empty bottles. Skye left the pilots cabin, still searching desperately for anything she could inject, smoke or drink. She wasn’t ready to be sober, she wasn’t ready to meet her parents.

She emptied her bags, trying with all her might to get the tiniest of drops from her bottles. Scouring the place she, she searched. Until she got to the first aid bag. There it was, the most beautiful thing she'd ever seen, a bottle of rubbing alcohol. A shaky breath of relief left her body. Opening the body, she went to take a long drink.

The smell hit her first. A nauseating, chemical stink reached her. Her eyes flew open at the mere smell of it. Skye threw the bottle away, but the contents was already partway down her throat and in her mouth. It was a vile slime down her throat while her mouth was practically destroyed. The taste was similar to gasoline and bad decisions.

Spitting it all out, she rushed to the bathroom, vomiting the small amount she had swallowed and what little food she had had. When had she sunk so low?

Admitting defeat, Skye sank onto the floor of the quinjet, tears streaming down her face, sobs racking her body.

“Why didn’t you want me?” she sobbed to no one. “Was I not good enough? Were my grades too bad? Was I too demanding? Why did you leave me mom?”

Skye sat on the floor for the rest of the journey, crying until her throat was raw and her eyes so puffy she could barely see. If she was honest with herself, and she rarely was, especially this sober, crying that much felt good. She was filled with so much rage and anger, like a fire constantly burning in the pit of her stomach. She kept the fire tame by pouring alcohol and drugs on it, constantly keeping it down.

It felt good to let the fire take over, inhabit every single part of her very being. Her veins white hot, her mind burning, her whole body aflame. And in every single tear, sob and cry, the fire came out, leaving her cool for the first time. It felt like breathing fire.

Once Skye was done crying, she was exhausted and fell asleep on the floor. She woke up several hours later as the quinjet landed in China.

Skye really wasn’t sure if she was ready to deal with going back to her birthplace, but her stomach made the decision for her. She was absolutely starving. It had never occurred to her to bring food. Taking a lungful of breath, Skye opened the hatch and stepped outside

* * *

 

May and Coulson were getting worried. After The Avengers had been debriefed about the situation with Skye, they had returned to Skye’s room. She wasn’t there, May, Coulson and Fury weren't surprised, the others were.

Not much had really happened. They all expected Skye to appear at one moment, make her introductions, glare at May and Coulson, get drunk and pass out. Well, that’s what Clint and Natasha suspected would happen.

Phil hoped there was still a bit of his little girl left that would be dying to meet Captain America. May thought for sure she would want to out hack Tony. But neither things had happened.

Fury had disappeared a few hours ago, claiming he had more things to do then to look at moping superheroes, and that he had a motherfucking agency to run.

“Guys, I think we have a problem” Tony’s voice called out, his head buried in a laptop.

“Stark, why the fuck are you in Shield’s security feed?” Coulson ran a hand down his face tiredly.

“Be glad I did, I just found this.” Stark opened a file and sat back allowing the file to play. There stood Skye, armed to the teeth, strutting onto a quinjet. When someone questioned who she was and why she was taking a plane, she glared. her whole body was filled with an unwavering confidence and a don't fuck with me attitude took over. After several words were spoken, Skye boarded the plane and took off.

“Shit. Shit shit shit shit shit. Can you track it? Get into the video feed?” Coulson’s voice was full of paniced worry.

Stark typed solidly for five minutes until he let out a defeated “No” and sighed.

Coulson looked at May and saw the same powerless, defeated look he had.

They had been living in a fantasy land. A land where it never dawned on them how much Skye hated them. A world where, they never realised how damaged and vulnerable she was. A world where they had completely overlooked that she hated the very thing that they both loved like a second child, Shield.

For the past few days, they lived in a world, where the impossible concept of being a family again, was an achievable reality. People like Melinda May and Phil Coulson didn’t get happy endings. Not after what they’d both done in the field. Not after what they had done to their child.

You couldn’t simply ignore, or deny what they had done. You couldn’t deny or ignore, that maybe if it was for the greater good, they had both taken and destroyed lives. Sure, the ends always justified the means, but that didn’t mean they were innocent.

Just because they felt guilty for walking out on Skye, and wanted to make up for everything, didn’t erase the fact that they destroyed her. It didn’t get rid of the drinking problem Skye picked up to cope with stress and anxiety because her parents never showed her the way. Just because they wanted a relationship with her, it didn’t mean she wanted one from them. It didn’t mean that they might run again as soon as problems came up. Skye couldn’t trust them, and with good reason. They had been selfish when it came to Skye, something good parents shouldn't do. Selfishly, they wanted a daughter back, not caring that she didn't want parents. It wasn't just that they wanted Skye, they wanted a little girl who would idolize them, be obedient, grateful and polite. Maybe if they had stuck around and raised her, set an example for her,  she would have turned out that way. But they didn't, so Skye was stuck with her own shitty parenting skills and had to raise herself.

* * *

 

Skye braced herself for what was to come as the ramp of the quinjet opened. Closing her eyes, she took several deep breaths and wished with all her might for it to suddenly start raining liquor. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen. Instead she opened her eyes as a warm breeze swept across her face.

In front of her was the most beautiful landscape she had ever seen. Large, lush, green mountains surrounded her, trees grew at the edges of the field and she could faintly hear a flowing river. Skye was calmed tremendously by it all. She had always been an outdoors person, preferring nature over cities. She had spent much of her childhood in her garden, her parents rarely allowing her in actual forests. Too many possibilities, they said, too much noise and distractions, anyone could sneak up on you.

It made sense that Skye adored nature so much if she had spent her first few years surrounded by such beauty.

Tablet in hand, Skye begin her walk to her birth place. She didn’t really expect to find her parents there, more like a clue as to what might have happened there, and how she could track them down. Her biggest fear was that she’d find two gravestones instead.

So she walked. She walked in what she hoped was the right destination. For all she knew, the village had been completely burnt when it was terrorised, and there was no evidence of it ever existing.

 She had been walking for a good hour when she first spotted it. Off in the distance, there looked to be a village. It was too far away to make out much, but she hoped it was either her home village, or a place she could eat and get directions. She hoped her Mandarin was good enough.

As she got closer, her hopes for a meal were swiftly crushed. The village was in ruins, with maybe one or two huts that were still standing. In the back of her mind, she knew, this was the place. This was where she was born, this was where she should have spent her life. A tiny part of her remembered the place. She wandered through hut after hut, occasionally finding skeletons, hoping to find some clue, something she remembered.

It was in the last hut, that she found it. A small blanket, in a room by the back. Completely damp and disgusting, but Skye _knew_ without a doubt in her mind, this blanket was hers. Looking around the room, she saw an old crib. It was broken and rotting after 18 years of abandonment, but she recognised it none the less.

This place was her _home._ A home that had been destroyed. Realisation dawning on her, she frantically searched the hut for any skeleton remains. She sobbed in relief when none were found.

Skye had no intention of leaving anytime soon, but realised the place was completely inadequate to stay in for any amount of time.

Searching through various huts, she found a pot. Not quite ready to part with her blanket, she tied it around her waist and made her way to the stream she had first heard.

Once she arrived at the stream, she filled the pot, crouched, took out one of her knives and stood completely still.

After a while, a rabbit came into view. Skye chucked her knife, killing the rabbit. She made her way back to the hut with her water and kill.

Setting up a fire, Skye set the water to boil while she gutted and skinned the rabbit. Once the water had boiled, she sat the pot away to cool so she could drink it later, and started cooking the rabbit. She never thought her wilderness survival lessons would actually ever be of use.

Once she had drank and eaten her fill, she set about finding as many usable materials from various huts as she could. Once all the blankets had been gathered, she washed them in the river and hung them out to dry. Skye wasn’t really sure why she was doing it. None of this was going to help her find her parents. It wasn’t helping the Rising Tide, or the better of humanity. What it _did_ do, was keep her mind off the fact that she was sober for the longest time since she was sixteen.

Using all the materials she had found, she made her hut as usable as possible. She ventured back to the quinjet to use whatever she could, tearing out seats, ropes, the med kit. For whatever god damn reason, there was an axe on board. She wasn’t going to question it, she just took it.

It took several trips to haul everything back to her hut, and even longer to set it all up. God knows why there needs to be a mattress in a quinjet, but she wont complain about it that night. Her blankets as clean as they can be, her fire still slightly lit, she slept.

She didn’t dream, and she didn’t wake screaming. She didn’t cry herself to sleep, and she wouldn’t wake up with alcohol poisoning.

She just slept.


End file.
